Lost in Lyoko
by Jo The Mage of Breath
Summary: After the end of another mission on Lyoko, it's finally time to devirtualize and unwind. At least, that's what's supposed to happen, right? However, it seems as though XANA has other plans... (Set during S4, a bit of a retelling)(OC Featured)
1. Chapter 1- Aftermath

**Chapter One: Aftermath**

 _"You swear not to give away the secret?"_

 _"I swear it."  
_

It all felt so strange back then. Having William Dunbar within the group of Lyoko Warriors was once an unheard of idea. However, as the threat of XANA grew, they realized that their current number of people simply wouldn't be enough. William certainly had the determination for the job, but there was still uncertainty there. Could he be trusted with the information that was thrust upon him? As time went one, more of the gang began to see why William would be a great deal of assistance. They took a leap of faith with him.

However, there was one that grew more opposed to William joining the group. Solana, who had joined the Lyoko gang prior to William, wasn't previously in that mindset. If anything, she would have been completely open to the suggestion. When William first transferred to Kadic Academy, she was one of the first friends he made. Solana became smitten with the older boy, but there were two factors getting in the way of the possibility of them being together. The first one being the threat of XANA, and the second being his infatuation with her ally, Yumi. Whenever Yumi was around the two of them or when she was brought up, Solana automatically felt inferior. Yumi was practically everything that Solana was not. Now that he was in the group, who's to say that he won't try to get even closer to Yumi?

 _"Welcome to the club, William!"_

 _"Well tell us, how do you feel now?"_

 _"Ready to take on XANA and his monsters!"_

While everyone else was celebrating the event, Solana quietly followed the others to Kadic. As the group continued on, Solana went on her own way. Noticing her absence, William stopped in his tracks to confront this issue.

"You guys go ahead. I'm gonna stay here for a bit." William stretched his arms.

"Are you sure?" Yumi asked. "Jim's going to bust you big time if you're caught outside your dorm."

"Eh, that guy's nowhere near as threatening as XANA. I can live with a few hours of detention." William responded nonchalantly.

The group let him go on his way, and Jeremy said he would keep in touch in case of an activated tower. Now that he was away from the group, it was time to get down to the bottom of Solana's strange behavior. He saw her headed towards a different path to the school, and ran towards her to catch up.

"Hey, Solana." William called out to her. Solana turned around briefly. When she saw his face, she immediately turned her face forward and continued walking.

"Solana, what's up?" William walked by her side. "Did I do something wrong? Do you hate me or something?"

Solana tried her best to ignore him. She only lightly shook her head and brought her hands closer to her upper arms.

"Then what's with the silent treatment? Is this about me being a Lyoko Warrior now?" William's tone was more confrontational.

Solana stopped walking. She bit her lower lip and was looking towards the ground. In a defeatist mood, she replied "So what if it is?"

"Is that what this is about?" William assumed. Much to her annoyance, he was correct. "Solana, you know that the others need my help. I don't know why you're being so unreasonable about this right now."

"I don't know, maybe it's because you could end up being potentially killed by a sentient computer virus bent on destroying the world, or worse I might add." Solana snapped back. "Or maybe it's because you'll end up growing more of a hero complex than you already do. Or maybe said hero complex will lure you into illusions of grandeur with people who are untouchable."

"Wait..." William gave an annoyed scoff. "Is this about Yumi too? Why the hell do you care so much that I want to be with Yumi? Can't it be possible to have both?"

"No, William! You can't!" Solana exclaimed, her voice cracking. "Because she doesn't love you! And don't even try to make excuses for her, either. If anything, _you're_ the one that cares way too much!"

"I don't know what's gotten into you, but you're acting like a five year old." William's intensity began to match hers.

"Oh, _I'm_ the five year old now?" Solana got louder. "Well, excuse me for not thinking that your little plan with Yumi is going to go anywhere! She's already interested in someone else, William! Why can't you see that already and move on?!"

"Well, I'm sorry that jealousy has made you into a bitter bitch, but that's no reason to take it out on me!"

Offended, Solana's rage only grew. "The only reason that I'm so bitter in the first place is because I love you goddammit!"

William's scowl lessened. He was examining what Solana had just said. When William's figure changed, it was then that she realized what she said. Her feelings were finally out in the open to him. Solana's heart was beating at the speed of sound. Her cheeks grew crimson red. Her eyes welled up. William's demeanor was now softer than it had been previously. She couldn't move. She couldn't speak. She could only look at him in horror. Solana was always trying to build up the courage to say those exact words, but she never would have imagined that it would have been under these circumstances.

"Solana, you..." William was trying to confirm what he said. "You love me?"

Solana's flight instinct kicked in. She knew what his response was going to be. She simply couldn't stay here any longer. She turned the other direction and ran straight for the dorms.

"Solana, wait! Solana!"

 _"This isn't a video game, William. Let me remind you that we have an important mission to accomplish."_

 _"Killer! This is ten thousand times better than Galactic Battle!"_

  
On the day of skateboard championship at Kadic, XANA was once again plotting to destroy the Core of Lyoko. Fate had different paths for the other Lyoko Warriors, so William and Solana were the only other two that were immediately available for the mission. Throughout the arrival to the factory and even William's first steps on Lyoko, Solana refused to talk to him. She wouldn't even dare to look him in the eye, feeling the sting of the night prior. When the floors inside of Sector 5 began to change, Solana stuck with Aelita the whole way through instead of William. He had proven himself to be a competent fighter already, so it was expected that he would handle himself just fine with a few monsters.

 _"Hey, Jeremy? There's this really weird-looking creature that just showed up. Like some kind of uh…giant jellyfish?"_

 _"William! Get out of there! Hurry up! William, do you hear me?!"_

She was wrong. She was very, very wrong. Solana and Aelita didn't realize the Schypozoa would be there. Thus, the race against the clock began. Solana was regretting the night before and for deserting him. However, now was not the time to dwell on those moments. Aelita and Solana had to get to William as soon as possible. However, the girls arrived too late. William was now a pawn of XANA. Aelita was the first to go down, and Solana followed soon after. Even with the help of the others, it wasn't enough in the end. With XANA's new henchman, the Core was destroyed. Thus, the entirety of Lyoko was gone as well.

 _"If the second layer goes… Lyoko will disappear forever…"_

 _"I knew it was a bad idea to bring you into the group..."_

 _"We lost everything..."_

 _"William as well..."_

 _"I just received a coded message. A message directly from the Internet, and it's signed… Franz Hopper."_

 _"You think William's gone forever?"_

 _"No... I think he just went back to his new master... XANA..."_

Lunch period was in full swing with Kadic students flooding into the cafeteria. Some time had passed since the fateful destruction of Lyoko. Jeremy managed to get all the sectors created again, along with some new programs to hopefully bring XANA down once and for all. The group wasn't aware of what XANA would have in store for everyone now, but the Lyoko Warriors were determined to stop the virus before it could even try any new plans out.

Currently, the buzz at Kadic Academy was centering around Sissi Delmas being involved with the school newspaper. Accusations were flying around that she was trying to turn the paper into her own personal autobiography. Considering this was Sissi Delmas, people had little reason to believe that this wasn't true.

"Hey, Ulrich!" Sissi called out to Ulrich with Nicholas and Herve in tow. "Any chance you could give me an interview? I'm writing an article about the hottest guys on campus."

"You figure you're a journalist?" Ulrich asked, with half sarcasm and half mild amusement.

"Editor-in-chief to be exact." Sissi proudly declared. "From now on, I'm going to be the face of Kadic News!"

"Look Sissi, as much as I would love to take part in an interview with you, I don't think I'm really the best person you should be talking to." Ulrich pointed his fork towards the purple clad boy. "Why not ask Odd? He's always got scoops about the menu here."

"Yeah, at least Rosa's rabbit isn't in the kitchen for once." Odd nodded.

"Haha, very funny." Sissi replied in a monotone voice. Sissi left with Nicholas and Herve.

"Ulrich being in the school paper? Wouldn't be the first time." Jeremy commented.

"Knowing Sissi, she would end up turning the article into an 'Ulrich Stern Love Fest." Aelita laughed, and soon almost everyone was joining in on the joke.

"That would require writing about someone that isn't her for a change." Odd stated, causing more laughter among the group.  
Ulrich slowly stopped laughing when he looked over to Solana. She looked tired and was staring off into the void through the mashed potatoes on her plate. She had been completely silent the whole time, and it was beginning to worry him. Either she wasn't paying attention or something was occupying her mind.

"Solana? Are you okay?" He put a hand on her shoulder. The sound of Ulrich's voice took the girl out of her thoughts. She looked around at the table and tried to smile their worries away.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, everything's fine." Solana said.

"Are you sure? You barely touched your lunch." Odd pointed out.

"I'm not that hungry." Solana tried to reassure everyone. "You can have my portion if you want, Odd."

"But..." Odd was about to argue with the girl, but stopped himself before things could potentially escalate. "Are you sure?"

"100% positive." Solana slid her tray towards the svelte boy. Normally, Odd was grateful for free food, but today it just didn't feel right. Solana stood up from the table and slung her bag over her shoulder. She laid out a smile on her face, though she wasn't fooling anyone. "I'm going to the library to study. I'll see you guys later."

The others watched her leave, eyes downward and briskly walking into the sunshine outside. When she was finally out of earshot, the group began to air their concerns about their friend.

"What's up with her?" Odd asked Ulrich before taking another scoop of food from his own plate into his mouth.

"I don't know. I've never seen her like that before." Ulrich let his cheek rest on his hand.

"And when was the last time you guys saw Solana smile? And I'm not talking about any forced smiles either. I mean one that's genuine." Odd let his observations be known.

The group fell silent. They all looked at each other for an answer, but none came up with one. At least, none with positive implications.

"She's been like that ever since our last trip to Lyoko." Yumi finally spoke. Aelita looked down pensively.

"That's not the only thing that's different about her now." Jeremy chimed in. "No offense to her or anything, but Solana's not exactly the 'study all day and night' type. Or the 'hide away at any possible chance' type."

"Could any of this have anything to do with... you know...?" Aelita tried to delicately approach the subject. The boys curiosity was peaked.

"William?" Yumi asked.

The more the group thought on it, the more it began to make sense to them. Solana had admired him the longest, and was usually the first person to stand up for him. It would tear anyone apart to see a loved one turn evil. In Solana's case, it was more concerning, since the force that caused this change was XANA. Even after everything was said and done, Solana was quiet on most (if not all) of the details. For now, this was only affecting her in the real world. But what if this started affecting her on Lyoko? Something had to be done, but how would the group be able to approach the matter without Solana getting defensive?

Yumi got up. She figured some girl talk could get them any leads. "I'm gonna try talking to her."

"Good luck." Ulrich encouraged her.

Yumi wasn't sure how she was going to do it, or if Solana would accept the offer to vent, but she knew that something was bothering her friend. And she couldn't sit by and let it all fester.

-

When Yumi entered the silent library, she had expected Solana to be at a table. Instead, she found her skimming through books along the shelves. Solana seemed to be wandering aimlessly, most likely not even planning on studying at all. Yumi walked up to her and followed the underclassman's lead.

"Hard at work, huh?" Yumi asked while calmly opening up the nearest book by her.

Solana jumped up a little, causing her to lose the page that she was on. When she looked up to see who it was, it was a mix of relief and shame. She put the book away and started to look for a new one. "Oh, hey Yumi."

"I think I may know why you're upset." Yumi decided to cut to the chase. Solana stopped reading momentarily when she uttered those words.

Solana only shook her head as she walked to a new shelf. "I already told you guys, it's nothing."

"It's about William, isn't it?" Yumi went in for the kill. Solana paused. She was able to see right through her. The guilt inside Solana grew worse. From her silence alone, Yumi knew that she was right. "Solana, I know that something's up. What's wrong?"

"William got accepted into the group. He got brainwashed by XANA and destroyed Lyoko. There's nothing more to talk about." Solana said dryly as she tried to walk away from the older girl.

"Solana, I'm only trying to help you. Everyone else is just as concerned as I am right now." Yumi replied.

The vibration of a cell phone finally distracted the two girls, at least for the moment. Solana took out her phone and made sure that no one else was around to listen in or rat her out for having her cell phone in the library.

"Yes, Jeremy?" Solana paused briefly. Yumi looked at her curiously, wondering what could possibly be up.

"Okay, we'll be right over." Solana ended the call and put her cell phone back in her pocket. She grabbed her bag and started heading for the door. "Activated tower in the Desert sector."

"But, Solana..." Yumi's voice trailed off when Solana was no longer in eyesight. She gave out a sigh and began to follow her to the factory.


	2. Chapter 2- Trapped

**Chapter Two: Trapped**

It was still daytime when Yumi and Solana reached the abandoned factory. The routine for accessing their secret headquarters was ingrained into both of them. Use a rope to jump down to the main floor, get to the elevator, punch the code in, and get in touch with Jeremy. Nothing too out of the blue so far. By all accounts, this was just another ordinary mission. At least it took Solana's mind off of everything else.

Jeremy acknowledged the girls' presence when they came into the lab. "Guys, your backup has officially arrived."

"About time! We're getting swamped over here!" Odd's voice rang out.

"How are things going on Lyoko?" Yumi asked.

"Not too good." Jeremy looked up at the monitor. "Odd's down to half his life points, and Ulrich and Aelita aren't doing much better. I'll get started on the virtualization process for you two." Jeremy typed faster, and the girls rushed down to the scanner room.

As the two entered the scanner room, Yumi realized something that hadn't occurred to her before this. "Ready to test out the new stuff you missed out on?"

Solana smiled and nodded at her before entering one of the scanners. Yumi went inside the one next to hers.

"Transfer, Yumi. Transfer, Solana."

"Scanner, Yumi. Scanner, Solana."

"Virtualization."

-

The orange and brown horizon was the first thing to greet the girls as they both descended to the desert ground. The second thing to greet them was the horde of Krabs guarding the tower. Ulrich was currently performing a Triangulate attack on one, and Odd was borderline indiscriminately firing laser arrows like there was no tomorrow on his Overboard. Aelita was currently taking solace behind a rock wall she constructed, throwing energy fields every so often.

Solana caught on to the current trend of bodysuits with everyone else's new outfits, and hers was definitely no exception. Her outfit consisted of three different shades of blue, along with a purple accent. Another new feature was that her hair was now in a single ponytail instead of two tails like it had been before.

Acting upon instinct, Yumi and Solana began to fight. They both summoned their respective weapons, Tessen fans and a staff, and targeted the first Krabs they laid eyes on. Yumi hurled her fans and Solana began swiping at the feet of one enemy. Once the Krab had been partially immobilized, Solana stabbed it in the eye with her staff, destroying it instantly.

"Solana, try bringing your staff down." Jeremy advised.

"Huh? But why?" Solana kept fighting on.

"Just think of it as something that'll make your job a little easier."

To be fair, Jeremy did have a point. Solana decided to give this a try and put both hands on her staff, and brought the other end down hard. What resulted from the impact was a small shower of cyan colored lightning over the next Krabe's head, killing it in a faster time than what she usually would have done.

"Woah..." Solana looked at her destruction in wonder. Jeremy was right on this one; this was definitely going to give her an easier time. Solana picked up her spear and aimed the head at another Krab, shooting lightning once more. Though it didn't destroy the monster, it did stun the tall creature for a few seconds. Thus, it gave Odd an opportunity to get proper aim on the Krab's back. Solana was getting more invested in her newfound power, and she was starting to have fun during the heat of the battle.

"Nice light!" Odd commented with a thumbs up.

Solana looked up to him with a smile. "Thanks!"

Odd stared at her briefly before getting back into fight mode. Something about Solana felt different to him, with a distinct glow in her eyes when she spoke and fought. Whatever that change was, he was happy that she wasn't moping around like before.

Meanwhile, Ulrich had gotten hit with a stray laser from a Krab. His left shoulder electrified and he immediately put a hand to it. The others had taken a few hits as well, but they still had a ways to go.

"Watch out, Ulrich." Jeremy warned. "One more hit and it's all over."

What the others couldn't predict however, was that while there were only two Krabs left, XANA had sent seven Hornets from behind. The twin bladed warrior didn't realize this until it was too late, and he was shot in the back. One warrior down, four more to go. When Ulrich reappeared in one of the scanners, he punched the interior in anger towards himself.

Knowing that Aelita needed to gain access to the tower, Yumi decided that she would try to create a diversion. Yumi started to run away from the tower in an attempt to lure at least one of the Hornets away. Sure enough, she managed to grab the attention of two of them. "Yoo-hoo! Over here!"

Yumi waited until she was a safe distance away from the tower and Aelita before she decided to strike. She threw both of her fans at the enemies, killing one and just barely missing the other.

Aelita, on the other hand, was waiting for the right moment to start flying towards the tower. For the time being, the Hornets were preoccupied with at least one of the other warriors, so she figured that now would be as good a time as any to make a break for it. When it looked like the coast was clear, Aelita swiped her hand over her bracelet and her wings materialized. When it seemed like the tower was within the pinkette's reach, one Hornet saw her attempt to go by undetected. That wasn't going to happen on XANA's watch. Just as she was almost there, Aelita got struck down by a Hornet's blast, causing her wings to disappear and to fall to the ground.

Before either Odd or Solana could reach her, they were both struck by Hornets. Unlike an ordinary strike, neither could move and they were both engulfed in a strange red aura. They both tried to fight it off, but by the time the lightning surge dissipated and Yumi was coming to the rescue, it was too late. One Hornet had shot one final laser at Aelita, the key to the success of their mission gone.

"Aelita!" All the warriors shouted. They couldn't believe their eyes. This had to be some kind of nightmare. It felt as though time had completely stopped. Without the Lyoko code, XANA would win. The virus would be one step closer to world domination. Each warrior felt shocked over what had transpired, wondering what could have been if only they had made it to their princess sooner.

"No!" Solana slammed the ground with her fist as she lay.

As the consternation of everything was weighing in, something strange happened. The Hornets that were picking apart the gang before began to retreat. The trio looked up at the tower, watching the light around it go from a sinister red to a calm blue. They all looked at each other in confusion.

"Uh Jeremy? Are you seeing what we're all seeing right now?" Odd looked back up in disbelief.

"That's weird..." Jeremy stopped typing. He was trying to figure out what would drive XANA into halting its attack completely. "The tower just deactivated itself. But why?"

"Beats us. Sucks that we came out here for nothing, though." Odd kicked some virtual rocks.

"Well, no point in being here if there's nothing more to do." Yumi pointed out.

"Right," Jeremy typed away on the keyboard. "Devirtualization is a go."

The trio waited for the program to kick in. The sooner they could get back to Earth, the better. Yumi was the first to be devirtualized as the two other warriors waited for their turn. While Jeremy executed the program, something had gone awry. Two windows popped up on the screen before him, both showing Odd's and Solana's virtual envelopes respectively. Exclamation points surrounded by circles covered both of their avatars, with beeping accompanying the error messages. Some strings of code was flooding another window, but it was all happening so fast that Jeremy couldn't comprehend what was happening at first. However, it appeared that Yumi's file was left completely untouched, as she was brought back without any issue.

"Uh oh."

"'Uh oh'?" Solana looked to the sky, hearing what Jeremy had said. "What do you mean 'uh oh'?"

"'Uh oh' as in 'something is wrong with both of your data files'." Jeremy explained. "I can't bring you guys back."

"What?!" Odd looked at Solana worryingly, and she expressed the same amount of dread. The two looked back upwards. "Jeremy, there's gotta be a way you or Aelita can fix this, right?"

"I'm sure there is, but we don't know yet." Jeremy shook his head, upset that he wasn't able to do anything. "In the meantime, you two hide inside the tower. I'll run a scan on both of you to see what's up."

Odd and Solana nodded at each other and entered the fortress, not wanting to take any chances on the matter. Nobody knew what in the world XANA was up to this time, but it certainly couldn't be good.

-

Four of the six Lyoko Warriors circled around the computer. Jeremy was frantically trying to find the source of the bug that had infiltrated his friends' files.

"Odd, Solana." Jeremy spoke up after a moment of thinking. "Did anything strange happen while you were fighting XANA's monsters?

"Well, these two Hornets came and shot at us with some weird red light." Solana elaborated on the situation. "Afterwards, we were left immobilized for a while."

Slowly, the pieces started to come together. Jeremy went back again and looked at those files once more. "Guys, I think I know what's up now."

"Well? Tell us Einstein!" Odd proclaimed impatiently.

"XANA implanted a virus in your digital envelopes. It looks as though it's not too keen on you coming back home." Jeremy kept his eyes glued to the screen. "Why it decided to choose you two in particular, I'm still not certain."

"Do you at least have an idea of what XANA plans to accomplish?" Ulrich asked.

Aelita and Jeremy looked at each other before turning back to Ulrich. "Unfortunately, that's something we don't have a direct answer to."

"So, what should we do now?" Yumi pondered.

"For now, we should try to carry on as best as we can." Aelita responded. "Besides, it's probably something that can be fixed with a little digging. As for Odd and Solana, the best thing you guys can do is stay put in that tower until further notice."

Solana gave out an distaindful groan. "Great, just great."

"My thoughts exactly. Besides, it's Taco Tuesday!" Odd whined.

"I'm sorry, Odd, but it looks like you're gonna have to miss out on that too." Jeremy sighed.

"But what about our classes?" Solana inquired. "People are going to notice that we're not at Kadic."

"Don't worry, Solana." Aelita tried to reassure her. "We'll create clones of the both of you in case this problem isn't a temporary one."

"I'll also be working on a debugging program." Jeremy thought up of a plan. "If it goes as well as I hope it will, you two will be back over here in no time."

"Hate to break it to you guys," Yumi intervened. "But we'll all be late for class if we stay here any longer."

"You're right." Aelita said. "Mrs. Hertz is already suspicious of us enough as it is."

The four decided to leave the lab in unison. They didn't want to leave their friends behind, but in order to keep up appearances at school, some sacrifices had to be made. Before he could take off with the others, Ulrich reached out to his cousin. "Oh, and Solana?"

"Yeah, Ulrich?" Solana replied.

"Make sure Odd doesn't do anything stupid while we're gone, okay?" Ulrich requested.

"Hey!" Odd announced, slightly offended at what he overheard. "You don't trust me enough with being able to handle myself?"

"Relax, I'll make sure he doesn't try to eat one of the Tarantulas." Solana saluted, rubbing more salt in the wound.

"Why do you gotta be so mean?" Odd's head lowered in defeat.


	3. Chapter 3- Ambush

**Chapter Three: Ambush**

Ulrich, Jeremy, and Aelita tried to remain focused during the day's lesson with Mrs. Hertz. That was proving to be easier said than done, however. Due to the lackluster teaching methods that failed to keep many students' attention, not just the trio, and the latest stunt by XANA their minds wandered away from what was currently in front of them. As for explaining Odd and Solana's absences so far, they knew they had come up with a temporary, albeit flimsy, excuse. Until the clones were ready to be shown off, there's no way the three would be able to come up with a clever enough explanation for why they weren't present. Ulrich was able to get away with using the Infirmary visit card, but that story wouldn't hold up for long.

Ulrich checked on Mrs. Hertz' movements before leaning towards Aelita. He passed a folded up piece of notebook paper, which read:

 _"How long will it be before the Odd and Solana clones show up?"_

Aelita looked around her, pretending to write down notes in the process. She quickly slid the paper back over to him.

 _"Since we're basing most of everything off the William clone, we should have a faster time getting them here than when we first started off."_

Out of the gang that was present, only Jeremy seemed to be paying any real attention to the curriculum: complex chemical equations. Jeremy observed the practice equation being written on the chalkboard, and was anticipating to get called on. With the exception of Herve, no one else was usually up for giving out any answers in class, on the off-chance of embarrassing themselves.

"Now, do I have any volunteers?" Mrs. Hertz scanned her students. The equation went as follows: HIO3 + FeI2 + HCl - FeCl3 + ICl + H2O.

Jeremy had his hand raised the second she stopped talking. This should be rather easy for him.

"Mr. Combes." Mrs. Hertz pointed with her chalk. "How about you give it a try?"

Jeremy's attention was then turned to a boy with crimson red hair that was parted over to the side with the bottom resting just above the eyebrow. He was wearing a black denim jacket with a white v-neck shirt underneath. His gray and white sneakers brought attention to the multiple rips at the bottoms of his jeans. For the most part, he looked rather ordinary save for his beacon-like hair color. Combes smiled confidently as he got up towards the chalkboard, but not before passing of a subtle wink in Aelita's direction. Jeremy bundled his left hand into a light fist. He handled the chalk as if it were a musical conductor's baton.

"First, you put unknowns for the number of molecules of each compound on both sides... like so..." He went through the steps aloud. The board now read _a*HIO3 + b*FeI2 + c*HCl - d*FeCl3 + e*ICl + f*H2O_.

"Then, you make the elements on the left equal to the elements on the right." There was a hypnotic way in which Combes was writing everything on the board. In this moment, he was the Pied Piper and his peers were the children that followed the music. It made even the most attention challenged want to pay attention. Even Aelita was taking notice of this. Jeremy was, too, but he wasn't prepared to admit it.

 _b = (4/5)*a,_ _c = 5*a,_ _d = (4/5)*a,_ _e = (13/5)*a,_ _f = 3*a._

"Next, solve for b, c, d, e, and f." His handwriting was large enough, yet neat enough, for everyone around to have at least some understanding of what was taking place.

"Now, put an equal to the greatest common denominator of the coefficients, and evaluate..."

 _a = 5,  
b = 4,  
c = 25,  
d = 4,  
e = 13,  
f = 15._

"Which means you should get..." Combes finally put the chalk down. " _5 HIO3 + 4 FeI2 + 25 HCl - 4 FeCl3 + 13 ICl + 15 H2O._ "

"Very good, Zachary." Mrs. Hertz was rather impressed. Jeremy, on the other hand, not as much.

Zachary was excused and returned to his seat triumphantly. Some of the girls in class were left whispering to each other. Aelita still wasn't quite sure of what to make of Zachary's move. In the end, she just decided to brush it off and not let it affect her that day. Jeremy shook his head and went back to jotting down notes. Why he felt this way about a student that transferred here a week ago, he wasn't certain. But he knew that something felt off about him.

Ulrich passed another note to Aelita:

 _"Looks like Einstein finally has some real competition."_

Jeremy never had any real academic rivals. There was Herb Pichon, but even then he was never really considered to be much of an obstacle. Sure, he had the brains, but he wasn't exactly on the same level as Jeremy Belpois. Zachary Combes on the other hand, while cocky, was. Aelita couldn't help but agree with Ulrich on this sentiment.

 _"Looks like it."_

Since there wasn't much to do within the confines of the blue interior, Solana had decided to simply follow through with taking a short nap. There were other things she could be doing at this moment, but given how she and Odd were essentially trapped, she saw no real need in fulfilling any of those things at the moment. She insisted that Odd do as he please, as long as he didn't leave the tower. The only response she ever got from that was an "Okay, okay. I won't", and as far as she was concerned she was too tired to fight with him any more on the subject.

However, when she woke up shortly after, she noticed that the space around her felt more open. Solana looked around the tower. "Odd?"

The purple cat boy was nowhere to be seen. She looked down towards the black abyss below her. Was it possible that Odd may have fallen down into another sector's tower? Perhaps. But if that were the case his shouting would have woken her up well before that happened. Then she looked out to the entrance of the tower. If he did what she thinks he did, he would be in for an earful. With the situation the two were in right now, they couldn't afford to play any games. Knowing him, he was probably screwing around with some wayward Kankrelats by now.

Solana took in a deep breath through her nose and lightly exhaled. If she wasn't going to do something about his disappearance, she would be held responsible for his possible permanent devirtualization. Out of a sense of duty, she carefully exited the tower and was greeted to the orange skies of the desert sector once more.

"If I were a giant purple cat, where would I be?" Solana quietly said to herself.

She materialized her staff and continued walking forward. Solana never really understood the appeal of this part of Lyoko. To her, the mountain or the ice sector would have been a more preferable location to do, well, anything. There really wasn't much open to the imagination. Solana could easily navigate the sector on her own. She heard her footsteps softly hit the ground and saw light bits of virtual sand come up.

Solana was still thinking about where she could find Odd. Although, her thoughts shifted to his new appearance. To her, it didn't look as cheesy as before, though she herself wasn't in much of a position to talk. In fact, he looked quite nice. It was about time that boy got some ears, too. At least now the costume was complete. The downside was now Odd was taller than she was, which felt a little weird in her eyes. Solana wondered why she would be thinking about that of all things right now and refocused on her search.

That's when she heard a scream. Her head immediately jerked to the right. Solana saw a pathway of elongated stones. That's where Odd must be right now. She started running through the pathway and clutched her staff hard. The more he screamed, the _"No... not again."_

Once she entered the dome at the end of the path, Odd's sounds stopped. Solana held her staff close to her body. She bit her lower lip in anticipation. _"Did he... could he...?"_

Solana made a left turn and her jaw dropped. There was Odd in the center, surrounded by Bloks on all corners. What really stood out to her was that everything was completely still. Solana found herself still as well. Her breathing grew slightly more heavy. What happened here? Solana took a quick look at all the Bloks around her. Although there was nothing out of the ordinary with them, she knew something had to be done. She raised her staff and concentrated her power into the enemies around her.

"Laser arrow!"

"Huh?"

Moving around as if nothing had happened, Odd started firing laser arrows at the enemy Bloks. They all exploded like firecrackers on a summer evening. The only thing Solana could manage to do was look at Odd in utter disbelief.

Odd blew on his paw as if it were a gun. He then looked back to her. "Looks like Einstein gave me a new power. Cool, huh?"

"Odd..." Solana went up closer to him. "What... the hell!?"

"You should've seen the look on your face, though!". He wiped a tear forming from his eye. "It was priceless! Your eyes looked like they were going to pop out of your skull!"

"Odd, that wasn't funny!" Solana's cheeks grew pink with frustration. "You could've seriously been in trouble!"

"Sorry... but I couldn't resist messing with ya at least a little bit."

Solana sighed. In retrospect, it could have been funny under any different scenario. She started to walk towards the exit. "What am I gonna do with you?"

Odd caught up with her and they left together back to the tower. He was beginning to feel guilty about the prank he pulled on her earlier. Solana wasn't exactly ready to talk to him yet, and Odd sensed that. In all fairness, he did deserve it for making her worry so much. The least he could do was try to lighten the mood a little. But what could he possibly say? He observed Solana out of the corner of his eye. Her hair was now in a ponytail instead of two low pigtails. Then he noticed how he had to look down to notice her now. Has Solana always been that short? It was actually sort of adorable.

"Well, at least you don't get to call me 'shrimp' anymore." Odd stated nonchalantly.

Caught off guard, Solana stopped dead in her tracks. She watched Odd move on without her. "And what exactly is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"You haven't noticed?" Odd turned around and chuckled a bit. He pushed his hand towards her. "I bet even Aelita's gotta be taller than you at this rate."

"Oh, come on! I'm not _that_ short..." Solana pouted. She then mumbled under her breath, "Lyoko heights don't count anyway."

"I heard that, Missy." Odd winked. "But who's to say that Aelita and me won't become taller than you someday?"

"Missy?" Solana raised an eyebrow. "Since when did you start calling me Missy?"

"Would you rather I went back to calling you Sally?" Odd taunted as he rested his arm over her head. Solana let out a huff as she felt her cheeks grow warm again.

"Not unless you want me to keep calling you 'Shrimp'." Solana fired back.

Odd backed off and looked away. "Touche..."

Solana couldn't help but smile at his childish demeanor. Odd noticed this as she resumed walking back to the tower.

"But hey, I cheered you up a little bit did I?" Odd returned to her side.

Solana smiled a little bigger. Why in the world she was smiling as such was anyone's guess. She nodded in his direction. "Yeah... I guess you did."

"Y'know, you look pretty cute when you smile." Odd let out casually before fully realizing what he just said.

"Hm?" Solana turned her head. "What did you say?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing." Odd waved his hands, or rather, paws. _"Shit..."_

The tension eventually died out and the two were almost to their destination. However, something still didn't feel right. It was as if someone, or something, was watching the two of them. Odd's eyes squinted and he looked up into the sky. Just as Solana was about to enter the tower, she could tell that something was up. She followed suit with looking around.

"Is something wrong?" She asked.

"Do you hear that?" Odd asked.

"No, why?" Solana tried to look harder. Once she started to concentrate harder, she could feel it. It felt like a vibration of sorts accompanied by a rumbling sound.

"An activated tower?" Solana suspected.

"No... that wouldn't be right." Odd responded. "It feels like... something else."

 ** _"SUPER SMOKE!"_**

Odd instantly fell to the ground and was surrounded by smoke. He had attempted to get up, but to no avail.

"Odd!" Solana reached out to him before getting hit by the oppressive smoke herself. The duo were on the ground, feeling the wind being knocked out of them. The more they tried to fight the smoke that bound them, the more the smoke took control.

Solana had already lost consciousness by this time. Odd tried to look up and see what in the world was going on. Right above the two stood William Dunbar, or rather, the shadow that XANA had created for itself.

"William..." Was all that Odd could get out. The last thing he heard was William saying something he couldn't make out. Then everything went black all around them.


	4. Chapter 4- Missing

**Chapter Four: Missing**

The cafeteria today wasn't nearly as active as Rosa suspected. Leftovers were served first, and she only brought out new foods when those were cleared out. From across the area, Zachary Combes could see a group of now only four people. He had wondered where the other two were at, particularly the ones with streaked hair. He couldn't help but shift his attention from the group size to Aelita Stones. To say that he was curious about her would be an understatement. Something about her, perhaps her intellect or moments of unabashed sarcasm, sparked a personal interest from within. Zachary knew that he had to say something to her. Well, he figured that now would be as good a time as any to try and break the ice. He bid farewell to the two girls who were in line with him before headed toward the group's table.

"Hey," Zachary made himself know. "Is it okay if I sat here?"

The four looked at each other doubtfully before looking to Zachary.

"Sure." Aelita gave off a friendly, yet modest, smile.

"Thanks." Zachary set his plate down and took a seat next to Aelita. He had grown slightly more comfortable now that the ice had been broken, but he suspected that his presence wasn't to be expected.

"I'm not sure if I've formally introduced myself." Zachary set a napkin down on his lap. "I'm Zachary Combes."

"I'm Aelita Stones," The pinkette proceeded with the introductions. "And this is Yumi Ishiyama, Ulrich Stern, and Jeremy Belpois."

"How do you do?" Ulrich greeted.

"Not too bad. What about the rest of you?" Zachary asked.

"Decent enough. Just talking about the test coming up in Gilles' class." Aelita replied.

"I heard his test can be pretty tough, so I wrote down as many notes as I could." Zachary wasn't a history buff by any means, but the subject intrigued him nonetheless. "I can share mine with the rest of you, if you want to that is."

"So, Zachary, where are you from?" Jeremy figured that he might as well try to be somewhat friendly to him. It would be his way of making up for the not-so-great impression the gang left during the destruction of Lyoko. That, and it was awkward having another brainiac in the conversation, so he wanted to change it to something else.

"The Netherlands. I was born here in France, though." Zachary had suspected that Jeremy wasn't in the mood to talk school at the moment.

"How does it feel to be back?" Yumi asked.

Zachary took a sip of water. "To be honest, it's kind of weird. It still feels like I just stepped into a whole new world."

"I know the feeling all too well." Aelita was able to empathize with him. Zachary returned the smile she gave earlier. Meanwhile, Yumi couldn't help but feel like this redhead had a strange aura around him.

"You foreign, too?" Zachary grew curious.

Aelita nodded. "I'm from Canada."

"That's quite a ways away from here." Zachary whistled.

"You're telling me..." Aelita took another bite of her lunch.

"There's going to be tryouts for the boy's football team later this week. You gonna show up?" Ulrich inquired, attempting in his own way to feel Zachary more welcome.

In all honesty, soccer wasn't exactly the redhead's forte. But for the sake of keeping up appearances, he nodded. "Sure. I could use a little more action here."

The sound of a 16 bit song alarm went off softly. Zachary immediately picked it from out of his pocket to see who was trying to contact him. He took his bag and his tray with him. "Really sorry guys, but I gotta take this call. I'll see you later in class, okay?"

Aelita and the others waved goodbye to him. Although relieved that he never stumbled upon any secretive information, Aelita hoped that she would be able to witness his intellectual prowess again. Part of her was hoping that him and Jeremy would duke it out in a Battle of The Brains of sorts. But still, another feeling arose: One of familiarity. The two hadn't even been aware of each other's existence until now, but Zachary felt familiar to her somehow. It could be nice to be around an outsider and not have to worry about Lyoko or XANA for a change. The group continued on with their previous conversation, all as if Zachary hadn't even been there.

The group of four had now huddled themselves inside of Jeremy's room. They at least wanted to see (or more likely hear) their friends before taking off for the rest of the day. It would help take the edge off of all of them given the current state of events. At this point in time, however, the three had a different conversation, which somehow went back to the topic of Zachary Combes.

"I'm not sure about him..." Yumi confessed.

"But why?" Ulrich wondered. "We literally just met the guy."

"I know, but... I think we should still be on our guard around him." Yumi turned to the pinkette, who was writing something down in a notebook. "Right, Aelita?"

"Hm?" Aelita lifted her head. "Well, he seems harmless enough. But Yumi does have a point. You never know what XANA might be planning next."

Jeremy was listening in on what his friends were saying, but was mostly focused on his actions with scanning Lyoko. He was planning on telling Odd and Solana that they would have to stay there for a while longer, at least until an antivirus is made for them. But as Jeremy continued to scan Lyoko's sectors, he began to realize that something had gone wrong.

"Houston... we have a problem."

"Jeremy, what's wrong?"

"Odd and Solana are gone." Jeremy said bewilderingly.

"Gone? What do you mean gone?!" Ulrich immediately sat up and looked at the main computer screen.

"I mean I can't detect their virtual signals anywhere on Lyoko." Jeremy was in just as much disbelief as his brunet friend. "It looks as if they just disappeared into thin air."

"Does this mean they could have... you know..." Yumi tried to hint at the most likely scenario.

"I'm not ruling it out, but at the same time I don't buy it. If XANA really wanted to do away with them, he wouldn't have wasted any time on Lyoko last time."

"Jeremy's right." Aelita agreed. "This all feels way too suspicious. We don't even know what he's planning to do with them."

"Or if he's doing something to them right now. XANA can't get away with this!" Ulrich stood up and headed towards the door. "Which is why we should get to Lyoko ASAP-!"

"Wait a second!" Yumi stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder. "We don't even know where Odd and Solana are. We could be walking into a deathtrap for all we know. Besides, we can't risk anyone else becoming a victim of XANA."

Ulrich remained silent as Yumi released her grip. He didn't look at either one of the other group members, despite all their eyes being on him. It was still an otherworldly feeling, knowing this news. First William, then his best friend and cousin. He didn't know why XANA would choose the latter two in particular, but all the possible ideas made his stomach churn. What made him more upset was the fact he couldn't do anything about it. His hands were still balled into fists.

"Look, I know you're upset right now. I don't even want to think about what's happened to them either, but we need to be smart about this."

Ulrich's hands loosened and he finally turned to the tall Japanese girl. He sighed and nodded solemnly. "You're right, Yumi."

"So what do we do now?" Aelita inquired to Jeremy.

"I'll run a DeepScan to see if anything comes up on the network. Hopefully the Supercomputer should be able to find something, _anything_." Jeremy resumed typing at his computer. "I'll also be getting to work on the Odd and Solana clones. In the meantime, you guys should be getting to class."

"But Jeremy, what about you?"

"I'll be fine. I promise. Besides, I don't really feel like sitting through another one of Mrs. Meyer's lectures."

Ulrich and Yumi looked at each other before leaving in silence with the pinkette following close behind. Just as Aelita grabbed the door handle, she looked back to the blonde boy once more.

"Jeremy?"

"Yes?"

"Please find them."

Jeremy nodded, exchanging the same look of concern Aelita had. "I'll try my best."

Aelita nodded as she exited his room. She knew Jeremy had gotten the gang out of many situations in the past, and she desperately wanted to believe that he would have all the answers in time. But at the same time, something felt out of place.

"You thinking about them, too?" Yumi took Aelita out of her thoughts.

"Yeah..." Aelita looked down before looking to the upperclassman again. "But I know we'll see them again, one way or another."


End file.
